


Nichijou of an Alternate Universe (After Story of Nichijou) (日常)

by unrelatedchickenfire



Category: Nichijou | My Ordinary Life (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 09:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14787707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrelatedchickenfire/pseuds/unrelatedchickenfire
Summary: A casual but worthless attempt made by the most passionate fan alive to prolong this gift from the gods, which nothing will ever parallel in terms ofeverything. By "the gods" I am obviously referring to Arawi Keiichi and the staff of Kyoani and the voice actors and literally everyone involved in the production of Nichijou.





	Nichijou of an Alternate Universe (After Story of Nichijou) (日常)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlackenWhiteCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackenWhiteCat/gifts), [Anyone who reads it](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Anyone+who+reads+it).



> Although I usually prefer the first person narrative, Nichijou characters are so thoughtless most of the time that I'd decided to trash that idea. Also, the time in Nichijou episodes are random, but my story will be told in a chronological order. (Including Short Thoughts.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I have recently read some of the manga, and so I know that the story continues on, but I started this with only having seen the anime, so I'm gonna continue like that.
> 
> I have absolutely no idea what you desultory readers may think of this capricious fanfic, but I just want you to remember that although I spent hours immersed in this, it _is_ a ridiculous fic that I wrote and write with moronic amusement.
> 
> Additionally, this is not dedicated to BlackenWhiteCat or anyone who reads it, despite me initially thinking that dedicating a fanfic sounded cool. This fanfic is dedicated to my own consciousness. This is only for anyone who reads it to have a piece of my dysfunctional and deranged imagination, unbounded with nonsense..

Nichijou Of An Alternate Universe  
(or After Story Of Nichijou) (日常) 

 

Episode 27

 

Shinonome Laboratory [Part 1]  
"Naaanoooo." Hakase shouted. "Naaaaanoooooo." Presently Hakase was rummaging through the mess of books and writing utensils, inadvertently knocking over penholders and trying to stack them as neatly as possible all around the living room as an impatient Sakamoto sat on the table along with more magazines and mangas strewn all over, swinging his tail with fury. Nano hurried out of the kitchen and ran down the hallway, suddenly perked up from the immediate but usual distress call from Hakase.  
"What is it Hakase?" Nano mused just as she abruptly stopped at the threshold and looked at the huge mess, letting out a yell of surprise and fright. Trying not to sweat so early on this quiet, wintry morning, she slowly asked, "Hakase.. What are you looking for?"  
"Sakamoto lost his scarf, and now he can't talk! He totally lost it!!" Hakase pointed at Sakamoto-san to focus all emphasis on him as he waved his tail even more fervently and meowed angrily. He jumped from the table and left the room, probably stressed as usual, Nano observed.  
"Hakase.. What exactly happened this morning?" Nano inquired, sitting down on her knees behind a busy Hakase pulling out clothes from the drawers. Nano grimaced as Hakase dumped an armful of Nano's painstakingly folded jeans onto the floor, making them into indiscernible lumps. "Hakase, please, I'll do that. Just tell me what happened.."  
Hakase pouted a little, but quickly forgot about it as she touched the side of her face with a forefinger and raised her eyebrows, deeply attempting to recall the events of yesterday evening. "Well, it was after Yukko left that Sakamoto and I went out for a walk to the park, but no, that's not when he lost it, because he was talking to us at dinner... Hmmm.." She frowned and carefully equipped her professional pose, tucking her left arm onto her chest and raising her right hand to her chin. Nano sighed, trying herself to remember when Sakamoto-san had lost the red scarf that he valued so much more than the inventor herself. Without the scarf he was an ordinary black cat, or daresay kitten, incapable of intelligent communication, so consequently, along with it he would lose his integrity, pride, dignity, and any respectable feature, so his sorrow was understandable, Nano thought. As more days passed in the Shinonome household, despite the naivety of Nano still learning to cope with normal life as an emotional robot and the mostly careless demeanors of Sakamoto-san, they had shared some thoughts and casual worries on the future of the Shinonome Laboratory, but mainly, and most importantly, of ways to raise Hakase. Specifically dealing with her belligerent attitude. Anyhow, they weren't too serious or mature to consider much, but they, all three of them, had learned to be supportive of each other, always trying to figure out the endless supply of dilemmas when deemed necessary. Hakase was sometimes helpful, and sometimes malevolent, but a comfort to have in this confusing, vast world of constant absurdity nonetheless.  
"Ah-haaa!!" Hakase yelled triumphantly, punching the air above her, inclining a curious Sakamoto-san to come stepping into the living room. "I know when he lost it! It was when the crow tapped on the front door and kindly asked if he could come in, so I let him in for a few minutes. Nano, you were out shopping for dinner, and Sakamoto was taking a nap, so that must be when Sakamoto lost it!! Ah!!!" Putting up a hand to partly cover her mouth, Hakase exclaimed loudly as realization and slight guilt engulfed her. "Sakamoto told me the other day that the crow could be trusted!"  
Fuming and bristling with rage, Sakamoto-san meowed crazily and started to repeatedly thump the floor with his weightless front paws in frustration, but soon stopped and only crumbled onto his side, all incentives to clarify the predicament long gone.  
For the first time, Nano pitifully glanced at Sakamoto-san's state and touched Hakase's shoulders. "Hakase, look, can't you.. just make another scarf for Sakamoto-san?" Nano grinned meekly, tacitly pleading to Hakase with her worried expression.  
"I don't know." Hakase bashfully rubbed the back of her head, trying to smile. "I don't think I can make it again.."  
Nano and Sakamoto-san sighed together and retraced back to their duties, Nano to the kitchen to finish readying breakfast, and Sakamoto-san to sulking in another corner.  
After inhaling her bowl of rice, Nano frantically stacked her books and lunch box into the handbag and jumped up to leave for school, ceaselessly excited for a normal, ordinary day at a normal, ordinary school of normal, ordinary students and teachers. Even after a complete semester the reality still brought Nano tears of utter happiness every time the thought occurred to her, which was every morning. As she sat on the wooden floorboard to put on her shoes at the front entrance, the thought occurred and she fell into a state of bliss, unconsciously tying up the laces at last when Hakase skipped up to her, singing her name. Nano promptly turned around and asked what was up.  
"I was going to tell you sooner, but I forgot due to Sakamoto losing his scarf. We're going to have a visitor today! It's Daddy!!" Hakase exclaimed, genuinely eager to see her dad.  
"What? Hakase, why haven't you told me before? I've never heard about Hakase ever having a father! Ha-Hakase!!" Apprehensive and thoroughly surprised by the suddenness, Nano simply continued in vain attempts to mentally grasp the news. "Alright, well I guess.. I'll get to meet him for the first time."  
"Yep! He's awesome! Nano, so will you come back at five?" Hakase quickly hugged Nano as she affirmed that she most certainly will. 

 

Igo Soccer Club [Part 9]  
Manabu Takasaki gently knocked on the door, reluctantly, but determinedly. After acquiring the sacred photo of Izumi, Takasaki had also gained a sense of deliberate attitude, doing everything directly because they were objectives of utmost vitality. All that must, MUST be done.  
"It's a must," Takasaki muttered under his breath as another sigh slipped from his lungs. "There is no turning back. I've even signed up the contract now. Principal Shinonome offered me a more leisurely teaching schedule for being the supervisor here, and I signed the damn thing like a fool. God, have mercy on my confounded antics. God, please do."  
Takasaki had been standing tensely at the door for a full minute when Daiku Kenzaburou walked up to his hunched back.  
"Takasaki-sensei!! Wow, I wasn't expecting you to be at the club so early. Makoto Sakurai told me on Friday you were going to join, but I hadn't realized you were so resolved as to come at six thirty on a breezy Monday morning. I had thought I would beat everyone else to the club with my father's Learjet," Daiku said as he unlocked the door and showed Takasaki-sensei in. "Oh and here's the key for the room. As the official club advisor now, you are surely entitled to it. I'll get more copies later."  
Heavily absorbing the palpable situation, Takasaki grimly, and grudgingly took the key and looked around the shabby room with its board games and mangas neatly arranged on the bookshelf and the few drawers predictably containing mandatory school supplies. Noticing that the table was only accompanied by two chairs, Takasaki (suddenly but) briskly announced that he was going to bring in two more chairs for Makoto and himself.  
"Good idea sensei!!! You've got some tact, don't you!" Daiku slapped his hands together and grinned. Although Takasaki knew it was a lame compliment for a verily casual deed, he couldn't help but flash a knowing smile towards Kenzaburou.  
"You don't know half of it, my friend. As a teacher, it's my responsibility to maintain the highest level of tactful concern for all my students," he said, before sprinting off headfirst with incredible speed and energy to the main building.  
"But the storage room is in the opposite direction!!!" Daiku yelped.  
"Right!" 

 

My Ordinary Life [Part 114]  
The soft sound of creaking floorboards resonated from below and felt Mio's spine as she awoke with a start, briefly choking on her spit as she sat up, looking around her damp, messy room. Mio yawned, dragging herself to the restroom. The unfinished manga pages lay scattered on her desk, in the exact positions since two twenty in the morning this unnoticed Monday. The first light of dawn crept in through the blinds and lit Yoshino's book in her left hand, _How To Make Friends At College_ , as she sat in the drawing room with her conventional politeness and habitual formality, taking a sip of tea in between bites of jam covered toast. Mio and Yoshino had agreed some ages ago to not eat anything around the couch, but such negotiations were long forgotten.  
After the hens had croaked their lungs out and Sakamoto had pounced and killed a pigeon in the light chill of the outdoors, Mio finally came downstairs and made coffee in the kitchen, taking heed of a suspiciously prepared dish of toast with a light brown spread of familiarity. She took it along with her mug and warily sniffed at it. Then, as if satisfied of the odorless quality, Mio took it to the drawing room, saying good morning to Yoshino, who didn't bother to look up.  
"Yoshino, did you make this toast for me?" Mio asked. Yoshino curtly nodded at her book. "Well, okay. Thanks."  
Mio fell onto her spot on the other side of the couch and absentmindedly took a bite from the toast as she picked up last week's newspaper. At the precise moment the taste of fermented salt-cured fish inundated Mio's senses and annihilated her whole perception of life, Yoshino involuntarily smirked, hiding her lips with a right hand.  
Mio chucked the newspaper and the toast onto the table with a savage yell of pain and distress, shouting out about how gross it was as she zoomed straight into the kitchen and turned the faucet with her mouth immediately below, somehow more efficient than ever at survival tactics, conceivably from past experience. But no water came out even after two insufferable seconds, so Mio grabbed the fridge door open and shoved her sweating hand towards the position of the milk carton, only to find a bottle of soy sauce that supposedly needn't be refrigerated. Of course, Mio couldn't consider anything further before crashing onto the floor and having a terrible seizure, rolling left and right with repeated cries of "gross" until Yoshino poured lukewarm water into her mouth. Mio gulped the water, gasped and seized Yoshino's arms with an unforgiving air of vengeance.  
"Aha... Mio.. You alright now?" Yoshino tried to smile despite her worried expression, but ignoring all this was a Mio with burning flames in her eyes and all rational thoughts gone during the calamitously homicidal prank.  
"Yoshino..." Mio loomed over her.  
"Mio... ah.." Yoshino muttered nervously.  
"You.... Baka!!!" Mio bawled as she sent a punch up Yoshino's gut.

日常

Reality [Part 1]  
The rewarding exhilaration of being able to go to school still lingering as electrical impulses zipping through her mechanical neurons of the artificially intelligent hardware, Nano enthusiastically jogged out of Shinonome Laboratory and made her way to the usual route taken by Yukko, Mio, and Mai-chan, lifting her right arm as it automatically opened up the time. 7:23. They had agreed to meet at the cafe front every morning at seven thirty, but Nano was often the earliest one there, only getting beaten by Minakami at times. Today, Mai had made it earlier and was reading a manga, from the cover Nano could see.  
"Minakami-san! Hey!" Nano ran up to her, slowing down to greet her invariable attitude with an unexpected variance. "Sela-Selamat Pagi!!"  
Mai simply nodded, but as Nano came to happily stand beside her, a corner of Mai's lips rose by a few nanometers, which she easily hid with the book.  
Without detecting anything peculiar, Nano leaned in from behind to try and look at Mai's book. Maybe I could read the mangas Mio and Mai seem to read, Nano thought. I could be a little more normal by wearing, reading, or talking of the common products.  
Nano stifled a murmur of disbelief as she caught a glimpse of Mai's right page. Nano warily leaned back as she studied the photographed scene in her mind. The page contained explanations of certain computer softwares and accurate layouts of programing necessary for radical adjustments in the main functions. In other words, it was for reformatting any types of facile or secured software to the point of irrevocability, unless it could be restored by an original copy from the creator. From what Nano knew, this wasn't anything taught in any computer programing majors, at least in Japan. It was without a doubt a book Mai couldn't have procured from a professionally orthodox computer software engineer. It could've only been an exceedingly shrewd hacker of at least the age of 37, Nano somberly calculated, with an appalled, ashy face now dripping with sweat. Her dilated pupils stared into the gray pavement, and her breaths were short and erratic.  
Mai had turned and asked quietly if Nano was alright, but Nano didn't snap out of the perennial stream of conjectures before Yukko had come along and laid her hands on Nano's stiff shoulders.  
"Nano-chan... Are you okay?" Yukko inquired worriedly.  
Nano exhaled and looked up at Mai and Yukko. "Yeah! I'm.. I'm fine! It's nothing. Let's go, shall we?" The short-lived, but contemplative trauma of making a galvanizing discovery already pushed aside in her mind, Nano preemptively (and needless to say, gladly) resumed the coveted life of banality.  
"If you say so." Yukko looked down the street and said, "Mio isn't here yet, but we're gonna be late if we don't start walking."  
Back into her casual behavior, Nano strolled along with Yukko and Mai, as content as ever, but she still glanced at Mai's way, trying to guess the amount of money or deftness that would've been needed to get such a book.  
Of course, anyone else would only wonder how Mai's shenanigans had reached this bizarre extent in such a brief period of scanty interactions and experience with one. Mio possessed this impenetrable sense of indifference for _harmless_ jokes, but Yukko was an indefatigable target range for Mai. And then there was Nano, as gullible as a puppy chasing after sticks of inexistence.

 

Kick-Volleyball  
"Yoshino, where's Mom?" Mio asked, sipping her coffee on the couch with her pajamas still on. "She seems to leave extremely early now and then."  
"Mio, don't you remember? The Kick-Volleyball team on the Neighborhood Association that she's in recently beat several other teams, so they're going to have a match against Tokyo next week. That'll decide which will become the national best. She's practicing with the team right now."  
"Well, I was caught up with all the progress I was making with my manga that I hadn't really listened to you guys talk yesterday or Friday evening. But it sure was a long Saturday. I worked so hard I had to eat six meals instead of three." Mio yawned and got up from the couch. "Yoshino, I'm gonna be drawing all day today, so don't bother me, okay?"  
Yoshino giggled. "Mio!! Wait!"  
"What?" Mio turned, annoyed.  
"Ahhh,.. it's Monday though."  
"Uhhmmn. Don't joke with me Yoshino. After that prank I'm not up for messing with you anymore." Mio stalked up the wooden stairs and closed the door behind her as she entered her private and very own room, instantly liberated from Yoshino's intolerable tendencies and further absurdity that is always prevalent whenever she is out in the world with or without her friends, although the presence of her friends never seemed to alleviate much of the nonsense but merely endorse it.  
Sighing as she remembered countless incidents derived from her tragic luck, Mio resumed her place on her knees in front of the small table and picked up the pencil, ready to sketch the rest of the scene, in which one of the gay couple was hugging the other as they often do, when her phone started ringing.  
Seeing that it was Yukko, she answered the call. "Hey Yukko, good morning."  
"Forget that. Why haven't you come to school yet? It's two minutes before eight!!" Yukko spouted frantically.  
"What? Yukko, what do you mean? It's Sunday." Mio frowned and looked at the date on her phone. "AHH!!! It's Monday!?"  
"Mio-chan....."

日常

Reality [Part 2]  
Yukko shut her phone and sighed, slumping into her seat and starting to arrange the notes for first period. She muttered half to herself and half to Mai, "I guess Mio is another human being after all. I didn't think Mio would make mistakes. I mean, besides that time she just couldn't _stop_ calling me stupid, of course!!!"  
Crudely kicking her chair away and rising to maximum height with her back straightened, the palms flat on the desk, Yukko's eyes fleetingly blazed with enmity before she remembered Mio wasn't present. Yukko gave a displeased 'hmph' and pulled the chair back into position as Mai watched with the seemingly typical aloofness. A few classmates stared curiously at Yukko, but shortly forgot and returned to their conversations.  
After a moment of Yukko's reconciliation with her non-violent self, Takasaki-sensei slid the door open and came in addressing the class. "Students of class 1-Q, can anyone tell me who is missing today? Aioi-san?"  
"Hai! It's Mio-chan. She's gonna be late." Yukko said.  
"Okay. Thank you Yuuko.. Now, let's begin reviewing yesterday's topic." Takasaki lifted the math textbook and flipped through the pages.  
"Ah, Takasaki-sensei." Annaka-san simultaneously raised her hand while speaking, defeating the point of asking with silent respect for the one being interrupted.  
"Yes, Annaka Haruna?" At this moment, Takasaki peered out the window, listening to Annaka as well as falling into a reverie of his sole obsession and purpose in life.  
"You handed out math packets for homework to do over the weekend. Don't you always collect them at the start of class?" Annaka inquired matter-of-factly, and quite innocently.  
Yukko was crushed with agony and a fruitless yearning for summer break, despite it being the second week of school after what had been ten days of spring vacation spent doing nearly nothing. Her life was a perpetual cycle of suffering, whether it was related to school, her home, or daily life in general. It was her lousy habits like consciously evading homework over the weekend to go blasting away with Hakase, until the responsibility was inevitably wiped clean from her short term memory. Everything around her, external circumstances influenced by other people or sheer chance, caused Yukko enough problems as they may be, but in addition to that she was a fairly dysfunctional human being named Aioi Yuuko, always accomplishing nothing of merit, even when the feasible task was laid so plainly below her nose, such as doing the damnable homework for once and proudly shoving it into her bag.  
"Yes, Annaka-san. Thank you for mentioning that. It must've slipped my mind. Everyone, bring the homework to the front, please."  
Yukko listlessly smashed her face onto her desk, discouraged of how things had turned out today. Even the characteristically upbeat (or easily incensed) Mio wasn't here to assuage her ongoing depression. Demotivated, Yukko remained idle in the same pose until Mai poked her shoulder with some sheets of paper.  
"What is it, Mai-" Yukko lifted her head and found herself blushing with elation, taking the considerably (seemingly for poor Yukko) bulky pack of dreaded algebra from Mai's extended grip, studying her immobile facial muscles as she continued to write with her casual swiftness, the eyes half opened. "Mai-chan... Thanks."  
Mai did not reciprocate, but on the inside, she smiled with sadistic enthusiasm as Yukko flipped through the numerous pages. Finding the entire packet devoid of a single answer, her jaw dropped as her expression turned into one of deep dismay.  
Nearly quivering to and fro with horror, Yukko apprehensively turned her tremulous upper body to Mai and mumbled, "Mai-chan, the questions are unsolv-"  
"Aioi Yuuko!!" Takasaki-sensei impatiently called out. "Did you do your homework? Except for you, I've received everyone's homework already."  
Staring into the empty space in front of her as her pupils diminished, a strange sound of a breathless groan emitted from Yukko's dry throat before she caught herself and anxiously responded, "Hai!! I have! Let me, just, write my name!"  
"Hurry up."  
Tears of bewilderment and rage at Mai rapidly formed. Gritting her teeth, she faced Mai, ready to ask her why. Just why? Yukko internally demanded. What is it with your unbelievably fast-paced trolling that ruthlessly meddles with my increasingly brittle sanity?  
Mai whispered to her first. "Yukko, just do one problem before turning that in. I think, everything has small steps when reaching a goal of significance."  
"Ah... Mai-chan...." Suddenly moved by Mai-chan's unanticipated concern for her recently inexistent educational progress, Yukko momentarily had several thoughts: I have to undertake these very small steps, because Mai believes in me, even making this effort to get me to study more. Now it's both Mio AND Mai trying to encourage me.  
Yukko curled her fingers into the palm of her hands and gripped her fists.  
They believe in me. They believe that I'll someday improve my grades.  
She had a flashback of when Mio had convinced her that she was a talented genius with the inherent gifts necessary for success. She remembered Mio waving to her own head imaginative blessings from Yukko's words. She remembered sleepily staring at Mio blushing especially hard at something Yukko had said. She remembered Mio shooting herself headfirst into her stomach and sending them both onto the grass. Now these were all nostalgic memories, but more than that, all these incidents had accumulated right up to this moment. They were countless testaments to many things, but most essentially a testament to Mio's admirable beliefs.  
Yukko was now determined to improve her grades.  
"Aioi-san!!" Takasaki urged.  
"Hai, Hai!!" Yukko hastily swiveled to the math packet and filled out her name and solved the first question, a fairly simple question about the location of a dot reflected on a particular function on the graph. She rushed to the pulpit and gave Takasaki-sensei the packet, which he shuffled together with everyone else's, giving it two conclusive taps on the surface before placing it away.  
It was a small step, but what can we do; the smallest pepper is often the hottest, Yukko thought.  
"Hu hu hu.." She smirked as she got into her seat and felt the slight bit of satisfaction in having discovered the concept of success and experienced it herself...  
With that, the day resumed with rather untampered normalcy. 

 

My Ordinary Life [Part 115]  
Promptly at noon, the bell rang for lunch. After organizing the textbooks below the pulpit, Takasaki took his folder and exited the classroom, only to be greeted by the hyperactive Sakurai Makoto in his black trousers and short sleeved shirt with the top button missing.  
Appearing and acting as keen as ever, Makoto took in Takasaki-sensei's hesitation as he eagerly asked, "Takasaki-sensei!! I heard from the president that you came early this morning to finally join the club. Is that true?"  
Grimacing, and not having fully dedicated his consciousness to the dreamy goal of becoming, or at least helping Makoto and the two other ignorant club members become, national champions of Igo Soccer, Takasaki had been secretly hoping for the club to be shut down and unceremoniously erased from the school documents this year round, but as that hadn't been a potential (or even a likely) escape route since the beginning, looking at the redundant funds presented by the Daiku Industry, there was only the option of retaining his selfless status as a justly venerated faculty advisor, doubtlessly being a conducive aspect to all the members and even possibly the future of Igo Soccer, quite ostensibly a matter not to be overlooked.  
With these ultimate thoughts, Takasaki nonchalantly conceded. "Hai. I have indeed joined the club at last. From now on, I will commence being the greatest advisor of any Igo Soccer club in the entirety of this world!" At this, Makoto's mood brightened into one of rare ecstasy, feeling the unstoppable vigor of Igo Soccer rushing through his veins. "Just remember, Sakurai!! We must-we _will_ enter the national championship and have victories over victories!!! When I come to the club this afternoon, be prepared for the training that'll mold you into a fully-fledged professional!!!! I won't hold back on a single technique and teach you of all the legendary moves of our ancestral players!!!!! Be prepared, as you are now under my infallible guidance!!!!!!"  
As Takasaki-sensei loudly declared such statements as facts, Makoto only stood with an abashed expression of newfound reverence and love for this compassionate soul willing to sacrifice much for the future of the club. Shamelessly near tears, Makoto Sakurai gratefully thanked the man, firmly clenching Takasaki-sensei's right hand with both of his and shaking them as if enclosing the deal before rushing off down the hallway, as vivacious as ever.  
Satisfied of his newly developed dignity, Takasaki smirked at his vague but ambitious plans and proceeded in the other direction to the Faculty Office. He entered and made his way to the yearly designated spot around the desks, this one for the homeroom teacher of class 1-Q, the seat which had been Sakurai-sensei's last year. Having been busy with the start of the semester last week, the desks were all a mess, some of every teacher's belongings still stored up in or on their former work area. Takasaki's wasn't an exception, with several strange clips and ballpoint pens that were definitely not his and apparently all Sakurai-sensei's.  
I have to give all this to Sakurai now, he thought.  
He gathered the things in his arms and carefully trod his way through the few lot of busy teachers walking back and forth, and in a couple of moments was beside Sakurai-sensei in her seat.  
"Ah... Takasaki-sensei!! Thank you for bringing all that over here." A little nervous and perspiring at human contact as always, Sakurai Izumi took the supplies and laid them on her desk.  
She turned to face Manabu. "Takasaki-sensei."  
"Hai!! Sakurai-sensei, what is it?"  
"Uhm, there is actually something I forgot to hand over to you last week. Here." She pulled out a folder titled '1-Q'. "All the student files for your class are here." She smiled lightly as Takasaki took it with a word of gratitude. She then added as an afterthought, "Uh... Aioi Yuuko seems to have a hard time doing her homework, or any test, really. If it wouldn't trouble you for me to ask, could you maybe help me out with tutoring her on at least these two subjects of ours? It's very sad to see such a lively student like her failing in every subject so easily." Sakurai was embarrassed, but willing to give Yuuko a chance.  
She's such a passionate teacher! Takasaki thought. I wish to protect her, and of course, help her with whatever I could! Yes, I must.  
Although it seemed to be a time-consuming task that assumably demanded a lot of effort, Takasaki resolutely decided that nothing required more attention than Sakurai-sensei's ordeals.  
"I'll help with tutoring Yuuko! If you believe it to be the right thing to do, then I wouldn't raise any doubts either."  
"Ahh..." Sakurai-sensei blushed as she held a hand up to cover her mouth, blinking and joyously surprised at such an obliging acceptance. "Tha-Thank you, Takasaki-sensei."  
Now blushing as well because Sakurai was blushing with some conspicuous severity, Takasaki cleared his throat and said, "It's only my job to teach students, isn't it? I'm only glad that I'll be able to help you, Sakurai-sensei."  
"Thank you so much.." The sweating was now reaching a precarious degree of intensity. 

日常

Short Thoughts  
As with wintertime, the sun was already setting across the horizon in the late afternoon. The sparrows chirped about, gathering around the leafless hedges and fluttering away whenever a person entered or exited the dojo. Their friendly callings were only deafened by the yelps and screams of beginning kendo players, all trying in vain to absorb this ungainly sport that essentially requires cruel tactics and purely extraordinary reflexes.  
There was one 'monster', however, who needn't try at all when it came to kendo. The assistant instructor faced the 'monster', both fully geared up and ready for a quick match. They bowed at the precise distance, adhering all the more to conformity to professionally prepare for the upcoming tournament. Without further demur, both instantly leapt at the other, fiercely blocking each others' strikes. The agile 'monster', clearly in possession of inhuman dexterity, brought down her bamboo sword on the assistant instructor's and swung her sword with a graceful turn of her wrist, promptly saying "Men!" as she happily tapped the assistant instructor's head.  
The game being over before anyone could offer any exclamations of terror or astonishment, the assistant instructor sheepishly took off his mask and shook hands with Yoshino. "I have never hoped more zealously that you make it to our next national tournament," he said with every ounce of honesty, still marvelling at Yoshino's forever preeminent skills.  
"I'll think about it, sensei." Yoshino contentedly sat down and dried off her face with a towel, getting ready to leave, unaware of Mihoshi's penetrating glare of envy and the everlasting incomprehension. In the calm, placating ambience of the dojo, Yoshino collected her equipments and went to change.  
"Sometimes, nothing makes sense, and sometimes, everything is crystal clear. There isn't anything I understand better than a round of kendo."


End file.
